Scholastic football: Daniel Boone head coach resigns

Bill Parks has resigned as Daniel Boone's head football coach, the school announced late Monday.

Athletic director George Schmidt announced the move via email.

Parks had been suspended following an incident at practice this season. He was not on the sidelines for either of the Blazers' first two games, both losses.

Parks, who came into his sixth season as Blazers coach with a 20-33 record, did not return calls from the Reading Eagle earlier Monday or last week.

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Schmidt did not return calls from the Eagle, but said in his email that the school district thanked Parks "for his years of service to our student-athletes."

"We wish him well in his future coaching career," the statement concluded.

Schmidt's brief email did not indicate any wrongdoing by Parks.

Daniel Boone superintendent James P. Harris, reached earlier Monday, would not say anything about the matter other than calling it a personnel issue and saying that Schmidt was investigating the incident.

Schmidt initially referred to it as a "personal matter."

Harris said he has not spoken to Parks about the matter.

Harris said he was awaiting details of Schmidt's investigation but left the door open for Parks to resign.

Assistant coach and offensive coordinator Ryan Contento has served as acting head coach during the Blazers' first two games. They play at Northern Lebanon Friday.

Parks, 40, was hired in 2012 after spending five seasons as an assistant coach at Pottstown, where he teaches health and physical education. He also coached at Ursinus College.

He played at North Penn and McDaniel (Md.) College.

The Blazers had mixed results under Parks. His first two teams finished 2-8 and 4-6, respectively, before a surprise run during the 2014 District 3-AAA playoffs that saw the 14th-seeded Blazers win a pair of games and reach the semifinals.

The Blazers followed that with consecutive 3-7 seasons.

They were expected to rebound this season, but lost one of their top players, Spencer McIntosh, to injury in the opener.

Parks took over a Boone program that had ascended to the top of the Berks Football League under Dave Bodolus, who won a school-record 79 games in nine seasons, including a school-record 11 victories in 2010.